


In this together

by Alyfox



Category: Rifts (Roleplaying Game)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-25
Updated: 2020-11-25
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:36:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,345
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27707035
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alyfox/pseuds/Alyfox
Summary: Samantha and Ashley were unexpectedly isekai'd out of their regular 21st century college life, into the dangerous world of Rifts. After a few years of scraping by in terms of survival, they've managed to carve a place out for themselves.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 5





	In this together

**Author's Note:**

> So, this story was written as my submission to a story contest on the Explorers Unlimited Play by Post RPG site, and we had a limited number of words available, hence the layout of the story. However, I am also using this story as a test-bed for an original work I plan to write - it will feature the two same characters, but in a world of my own design. Given the difficulty in world-building, it's unlikely that the full version will be coming out any time soon.
> 
> If there is sufficient interest I may consider expanding THIS story. Will have to wait and see I suppose!
> 
> So, this little short piece is an introduction to the pair, a taste of their personalities and their relationship. Also, yes I used "isekai'd" as a verb.

_It had been a little more than six years since we were transported to this place. It was Earth, but… it wasn’t Earth. At least, not the Earth that Ashley and I were born to and grew up on - I almost hesitate to even call it Earth, except that I haven’t come up with a better description other than maybe ‘Purgatory.’ I barely remember what happened that night any more, just fragments of memory that seem more like a dream - no, nightmare - than anything else. A flash of light, a strange and revolting smell and then… we were here._

**\-----**

**> > Unknown date, Midsummer, approximately six years after arrival <<**

Samantha brushed sweat-soaked ash-blonde hair from her face before raising a set of electronic binoculars to her eyes. It takes a moment for the optics to accurately focus on the group moving through the ravine below the ridge. _270 meters should be plenty of clearance,_ she judges, eyeing the rangefinder readout. _Hopefully they don’t have any outriders or overwatch..._

“What do you see?” comes an impatient whisper from her right - she ignores the question for a moment as she adjusts the focus and zoom, letting out a slow breath. Wiggling forward a decimeter to get a better angle on the parched gully below, Samantha counts the figures under her breath.

“Six humanoids, two mules and a motorcycle. One of them is in a SAMAS, though it’s looking pretty beat up,” she states in a low tone. “All the others are in body armor, none of it matching. I can’t be certain, but I don’t see anything heavier than a pulse rifle or slugthrower,” the blonde continues. “There is a lot of baggage on the mules and cycle, could be heavier equipment, or the loot they took from the reported raid.” Lowering the binocs, she looks back to her companion, irritation in those sea-green eyes. “Patience, Ashley.” 

The one called Ashley grumbles something under her breath, then reaches forward to tug on Samantha’s belt. “Fine, fine! But now that we’ve found and IDed them, we really should get back to the field base,” she retorts, nearing exasperation. They’d been searching for the bandits for nearly two days and Ashley was nearing the limit of her composure. Releasing her partner, she awkwardly squirms backwards about a meter, until the upper portion of the ridge completely blocks the line of sight to the gully below, then rolls into a kneeling position. ‘ 

“Give me another minute, I want to make sure there aren’t any scouts.” Samantha replies, bringing the binocs back up to her eyes. “If you’re worried, you can get the power armor ready,” she adds, a hint of teasing in her tone. Ashley rolls her eyes as she picks a few thorny twigs from her hair, flicking them off to the side. The young woman has blonde hair very similar to Samantha’s, but with several dyed cobalt stripes to accent - with how similar the two look, oftimes it is these accents that help their teammates tell the two apart.

Shifting from kneeling to crouching Ash sighs then turns away. “Don’t take too long,” she growls in return before scuttling away; after three or so meters Ashley straightens into a walking position, confident that there is no way that their targets could see her. The nearby copse of thick trees did an excellent job of concealing their heavy equipment, enough so that Ashley almost misses the lithe, predatory shape of her Gigi unit. _‘I shouldn’t have snipped at her. It’s not her fault it took us so long to find the bandits… I will have to make it up to her when we get back to camp.’_

After digging a helmet out of a canvas satchel and stowing away her armoured vest, Ashley climbs into the humanoid-shaped power suit, adjusts the control leads for a comfortable fit, then seals the suit and switches it out of standby mode. A faint grin crosses the young woman’s lips as the powerful combat suit comes to life; she flexes her fingers several times. “C’mon Sammy, double-time it. I want to get back home before it gets dark,” she orders her companion over their shared comm-channel.

“Approaching from your nine, Ash. Will be there in just a moment.” comes the replies, the irritation from earlier gone. “You know if they didn’t have that SAMAS I’d suggest a scuffle might be a good way to work out some of the rust, but…”

Ashley smirks at that, stepping out from the concealment then crouching slowly to reduce her profile, keeping an eye on the passive sensor display. “Yeah, you know how the Captain would feel about that,” she replies with a laugh. While the two know that under normal circumstances a pair of Glitter Girl power armour units would have no issue dealing with a single SAMAS, the additional bandits with potentially unknown equipment made an engagement risky. “Too much of a chance that one of them could get away to warn the rest of their group.”

Seeing Samantha on her left, Ashley raises a hand to acknowledge her presence. “I’ve sent our coordinates back to HQ, now it’s up to them. I still don’t understand why we took this contract,” she grumbles as she steps out of the tree cover, slowly turning to survey the nearby terrain while waiting for her partner.

Samantha considers Ashley’s complaint as she climbs into her own power armor. “Probably to try and earn some goodwill from the local villages. Oklahoma isn’t the most hospitable territory, especially this close to Lone Star.” A minute later, Samantha’s was settled into her own unit, a QGB-2-20 that matches the other’s paint scheme exactly, but for the stylized fox head on the right shoulder - Ashley’s armour has a leopard head in its place. “Alright, good to go.” 

The two travel westwards along a shallow gully for about twenty minutes. The gully eventually opens up into a clearing, with the ridges rising up into steep-sided hills. Samantha draws up beside a cluster of boulders, pausing to consult the map on her HUD while Ashley continues forward another ten yards before halting in a position better suited to survey the open area. 

“We’ll take this alternate route back,” Samantha starts, sending the new route to her companion. “There are some ruins two grid squares over that we should check out on the way - I know it’s not on our itinerary but we might earn some brownie points, or maybe a bonus,” she adds, hoping to cut off a potential debate.

“You know, I don’t remember you being this responsible in college. What happened?” Ashley replies - she tries to keep her tone serious, but can’t keep the amusement out of her voice. That amusement fades quickly though as an anomaly appears on the suits radar several kilometers out from their position and moving quickly. “Hold up, are you seeing this Sam?”

“Yeah. Let’s get under cover, I’d rather not attract any unwanted attention,” Samantha replies as she darts forward, heading for what looks like a thick stand of trees adjacent to a low cliff thirty meters to their right. “I don’t think we’re close enough to a CS firebase to have to worry about patrols…”

“... but we’re too far from home for backup in case of trouble,” Ashley finishes as she moves to follow, a slight smile touching her lips. _‘I guess what they say is true, date someone for long enough and you start being able to finish each other's thoughts…’_ she muses to herself; the young woman chuckles softly as her companion speaks up.

“Heh, you know what they say about a couple who’ve been together a long time…” Samantha starts, trailing off as she glances down to the tiny image of Ashley in the comm channel of her HUD, that chuckle causing her to smile. “We’re still doing it aren’t we?”

The two settle beneath the heavy tree cover, finding a rocky outcropping jutting out from the cliff to add to their concealment. “Yeah, we are. It’s no wonder that the others laugh at us from time to time,” Ashley adds as she consults her sensor array. “Whatever it is up there, it’s big. Bigger than any flight-capable power armour... Hell, bigger than a squad,” she adds, concern starting to show in her tone.

“I’m showing it as a single object, so definitely not a squad of anything. At least it doesn’t seem like it’s as big as one of those flying transports they use.” Samantha adds. After a moment she moves forward, out from underneath the outcrop so that she can take in the sky through the tree canopy. Off in the distance, a rather large unidentified flying object moves through the air. Zooming in with the advanced optics, the blonde lets out a soft gasp. “Holy hell.”

Ashley remains back beneath the outcrop, resisting the urge to join her partner. “What is it?” she asks, hoping that her calm tone will help steady the other woman. “Please don’t tell me it’s a dragon...”

“No, not a dragon but something just as incredible,” Samantha starts as she continues to watch the flying beast. “It… ahh. I mean, it’s not something I’ve ever seen before but…. I would have to say that it’s a Roc!” the blonde adds, definitely getting more excited. 

Brows furrowing, Ashley peers at the image of her partner on the HUD. “Come again? A roc? Like, the giant flying bird out of myth?” she queries, finally moving forward to peer up at the sky. “Well… shit, it’s a roc. Wait, do rocs even exist on this Earth?”

“... We’re looking at one right now, hon, so they definitely exist. I’ve never heard _anyone_ talking about them before, though… they must be incredibly rare,” Samantha suggests, still feeling awed. After checking to make sure that the sensor array had recorded everything she started to draw back. “Fortunately it’s not coming this way… I have no idea what its capabilities would be, but something that big has got to be more than a match for two Gigis.”

The pair continue to keep tabs on the giant bird for several more minutes, until it’s far enough away for them to feel comfortable with leaving their cover. Another half an hour of travel through the rocky, hilly scrubland brings them close to the marked ruins on their maps, causing them to slow the pace and pay more attention to their sensors.

“I think these ruins were at one time a village of some sort, though there is no name on the map,” Samantha observes as a few badly damaged buildings come into view - they had been following what they thought was a dry creek bed, but which they eventually discover was the crumbling remains of the village’s main road. “From the looks of things, it was post-apocalypse construction too. Or at least these outlying buildings appear such. What’s left of them.”

Ashley stops, reaching out to grab the other suit by the arm while pointing down the ruined street. “There, between those two burned out buildings,” she starts, zooming in on that area on one of the HUD windows. “That doesn’t look like debris,” she adds as the zoomed image shows the front end of a battered jeep. “IR shows that it’s quite warm, probably used within maybe the last half hour.”

“I see it,” Samantha replies, drifting away from the other woman to put some space between them, just in case of an attack. “Hopefully whoever is here will be non-hostile,” she adds as she turns to survey the other nearby buildings - most of them are badly damaged, as if hit by missiles or ballistic weapons fire, but a few of them appear to be more intact than she initially thought. “I’ve got a bad feeling about this, Ash.” 

The latter doesn’t respond immediately, focused as she is on taking in each building; Ashley shivers as a chill rolls down her spine, feeling the hairs on the back of her next rising. “Me neither… let’s go around. This feels like it’s going to end in an ambush…”

Almost as if summoned by Ashley’s words, two large humanoids step out onto the street, from partially ruined buildings on either side of the cluttered avenue. While neither women are elite soldiers, they’re experienced enough to react immediately to the situation - Ash darts to the right, taking cover behind the overturned husk of a truck while Sam ends up behind a large boulder, pock-marked with small craters from previous ambushes. The two potentially hostile power armor units move forward cautiously, both drifting more towards Ash than her partner.

“Shocker, eh?” the blonde power armor pilot comments, edging around the boulder to try and get a better angle on the closer target. “Any identification on these guys? I didn’t get a good look, and the battlecomp is taking its sweet time.”

“I don’t see any markings or-” Ashley breaks off as she shifts to a crouch to avoid an explosion, a mini-missile detonating against the hulk she’d taken cover behind. “-or other identifiers… oof, that was close,” she growls through gritted teeth. “So, I guess they’re hostile,” she observes, drawing in a deep breath. Reaching back carefully, Ash snags the grip of her primary armament, a non-standard plasma weapon she’d acquired to replace the power armor’s original QST-104 assault cannon, lost in an engagement some time ago. “The one on the right, closer to you, is a… uh… Chipwell Assault Suit. Hey, aren’t those things supposed to be deathtraps?”

Samantha carefully peeks around the edge of the boulder, taking in their opponents. “No, I think that was their other power suit… the one made of aluminum foil. Mind you, none of their equipment is particularly dangerous, unless modified.” The blonde watches as the Chipwell shifts to cover her position, then draws back around her cover to ready her own weapon. Like her partner, Sammy had replaced the original rifle, though in her case it’s a burst-fire railgun of Northern Gun manufacture. While lighter than the original assault cannon, the need for an ammunition drum does make the railgun somewhat more bulky - Sammy appreciates the improved firepower though, and has worked hard to compensate for the odd weight balance. 

“I don’t recognize the other suit; it's smaller but looks better made, so assume it’s more dangerous,” Samantha adds as she readies the railgun. Drawing a deep breath, she eyes the localized map on her HUD; when it updates a second later she nods to herself. “I’ve got a flank shot on the smaller unit,” she murmurs, knowing that the mic will pick it up. _‘I don’t mind taking a hit or two from the Chipwell’s popgun armament, this thing is far tougher than it… probably tougher than both put together…’_ she judges, stepping around the boulder and bringing the railgun up. 

The roar of the weapon would be deafening had she not been safely enclosed in the Glitter Girl armor - as it is, she barely even notices the recoil as the R1002 spits out forty high density slugs in the span of three heartbeats. Keeping her aim steady, Sammy walks the burst fire up the back of the smaller hostile, leaving gouges in its surprisingly thick hide; more than a few of the slugs ricochet off in random directions, kicking up divots of earth and stone. 

As the hostile unit starts to turn, seeming surprised by the attack, Ashley pops up from behind her own cover, leveling the plasma ejector at the same target; an eye-searing blast of energy erupts from the triple-barreled weapon, slamming into the smaller opponent hard and knocking it back a pace. Seconds later, a quartet of mini-missiles arc up over the Gigi’s shoulder to slam into the larger Chipwell power suit leaving several gaping rents in the torso; the blast topples the poorly designed armor unit onto its rear. Ash barely stifles a triumphant yell, then squawks and stumbles back as the remaining opponent turns back in her direction, leveling a hand-held rifle and pulling the trigger; the rifle spits out a stuttering laser beam, searing away a small scar in the Gigi’s chest - minimal damage given the laser-resistant shell protecting the high tech suit. 

The twin mini-missiles do far more damage, gouging out a partially-melted crater on the upper chest and abdomen, causing Ashley to reel backwards; the young woman drops to one knee, taking her back behind cover so that she can assess the damage. “That hurt, but it didn’t penetrate the armor,” she states quickly, re-assuring her partner. “I think I dropped the Chipwell.”

Samantha, still out from behind the boulder, doesn’t respond to the other woman’s comment, focusing instead on the still-standing hostile. Leveling the railgun at it, she squeezes off another long burst which tears deep pits into its main body and left arm; before she has a chance to launch her own mini-missiles though, it suddenly propels itself upwards, small thrusters flaring to life in its lower back. As it rises it begins to arc backwards, its trajectory eventually taking it behind one of the ruined buildings and out of sight. The downed power suit remains where it is, with readings from both women’s sensor suites showing it to have powered down.

“I’m thinking they don’t want to play anymore… while I’m pretty sure we can take the other tango, we have no idea what else is hiding back there… I suggest we withdraw,” Sammy suggests, pulling back behind the boulder. 

_‘She’s right, but I am pissed at the damage my suit took. Fuck.’_ Letting out a frustrated sigh, Ashley draws back as well, glancing down at the small image-window display of her partner. “Alright. I’m not happy about it, but you’re right about not knowing what is back there. I’ll take the lead if you’ll cover me,” the young woman finishes, not bothering to hide her irritation. Ignoring her own sense of caution, Ashley stands and turns on the fallen Chipwell suit, bringing the plasma ejector to bear and firing two shots, amputating the fallen suit's right leg at the knee. _'I guess I feel a little better, even if that was vindictive of me...'_

It only takes the pair a few minutes to withdraw from the ambush point, circling around a steep hill until the ruined village is out of sight. “I don’t read anyone following us… I don’t think they expected us to bite back as hard as we did,” Samantha observes as they regroup in a clearing. Moving up closer to Ashley’s own suit she studies the damage, then reaches out to pat her companion on the shoulder. “It doesn’t look that bad from out here. I doubt it will take more than a few hours of work to get it repaired. The edges look melted, they must have been using plasma missiles,” she adds before drawing back.

“I don’t think that we have any more of the laser-reflective armor left, unfortunately,” Ashley adds as they begin to move away at a brisk pace. “Pricey and hard to get for a mercenary company. I’m going to start looking like a patchwork doll,” she gripes, drawing an amused smile from her partner.

“You’ll be fine, I’m sure the Captain has connections to get what we need. I doubt he’ll want his best scouts to be left vulnerable,” Samantha chimes in, hoping to cheer the other woman up. Ashley barks a soft laugh, slowing up for a moment.

“Right, that’s why Beth and Jackson always get first dibs on the best missions,” she replies, glancing over to her companion, then reaching out to touch her arm - although both of them are in thickly armored power suits, they can practically feel the contact and, more importantly, the affection behind the gesture. 

“Hey now, don’t think like that,” Sammy responds, making a face. “Sure, they’ve been doing this longer but we’ve got better equipment. They can keep their sneaky infiltration missions, I prefer what we do - battlefield reconnaissance,” the blonde adds. “Besides which, power armor and mecha* are a whole lot safer than light body armor.”

Ashley doesn’t reply immediately, focusing more on the difficult terrain they find themselves traversing. As they crest a hill overlooking a wide valley, she draws to a stop, then turns to face her partner. “I suppose so. I get tired of these long field missions I guess,” she finally explains, apology in her tone. “Not the company! Just the whole sleeping on the ground, worrying about scorpions and spiders and such.”

“I’ll see about requisitioning a better tent and sleeping bags, should be a start at least?” Samantha suggests as she draws up next to the other, looking down at the base camp they call home for the moment. Before continuing she sends out an identifying signal via the suits laser designator; once done, the blonde turns her Gigi back towards Ashley’s while smiling down at her partner on the HUDs comm image link. “C’mon, we can talk more about it after debriefing ok? First round at Cable’s is on me.”

Ashley nods as she starts forward again, taking a narrow game-trail down the steep slope into the valley. “Ehh, alright. I don’t think I’ll drink much tonight though… I might even turn in early,” she adds, doing her best to hide a sigh.

_‘Woah, she’s passing up a free round? Something must be weighing on her… I guess I’ll have to corner her about it later.’_ Sammy ponders. “Alright, how about we just grab a bite after we meet with the Captain, then head back to our quarters?” she suggests as she moves to follow, one hand on the cliff-side for extra balance. 

“I think I’d prefer that for tonight, Sam. I’ll take you up on the round tomorrow night though,” Ashley agrees before going silent for the rest of the trip down to the camp. _‘I really hope I’m not distressing Sammy too much… I’m just tired, I guess? I hope...’_

**\-----**

_I don’t know how Samantha and I survived to get this far. Sure, back home we were Scouts and Ventures, and even spent a couple of years in the Cadet program through the Armed Forces, but that was grossly insufficient for what we encountered… here. Apparently it’s Earth, and sometime far into the future from when we were born. Or, maybe an alternate universe? Do those exist? I don’t even know anymore. Aaaaanyways. There were a lot of close calls, I guess we were lucky to have ‘come out’ very close to a town; a patrol found us while we were trying to escape these… things. I think they might have been mountain lions, centuries ago. Now though, they were very much monsters._

  
  


**> > Unknown date, Midsummer, roughly a week later <<**

A low groan is heard coming from the blanket-covered lump on the bed, one foot sticking out from beneath it and over the edge of the air mattress. The door into the room opens and Ashley sticks her head in, hair damp from taking a shower. “Hey Sam. Up and at ‘em!” she calls out, then lobs a boot at the lump - as it impacts, a yelp is heard from the lump, followed by a curse.

“Dammit Ash!” comes the growled reply, followed by a hand stuck out from beneath the blanket and flashing a rude gesture. The blue-haired young woman snickers, then pads into the room and nudges the door closed with her foot before making her way over to the lump; reaching out she grabs the edge of the blanket and yanks it off the still half-asleep Samantha. The blonde, suddenly feeling cold lets out a yelp, sitting up and shooting a glare at her companion. 

“C’mon I only got…” Samantha stops and glances at her watch and sighs. “Barely five hours of sleep,” the blonde growls again while reaching for a top. “We don’t leave on our assignment for another four hours, why get me up now?”

Ashley settles on the edge of the bed, watching as her partner gets dressed then leaning back on her hands. “I don’t want to feel like we’re having to rush at the last minute, like usual,” she explains, then laughs softly. “Ok, now _that_ reminds me of ‘College Samantha’.”

Sammy makes a face at the reminder, standing and tugging on a pair of shorts. “Fine, fine,” she grunts, eyeing the other and her damp hair. “Were any showers free when you left?” the blonde asks as she hangs a towel over her shoulder then reaches for a toiletries bag.

“Yep, only Lisa was still there when I finished,” Ashley explains. “There should be plenty of hot water left with a third of the company out in the field currently,” she adds, smiling to her partner. “You managed to sleep through the breakfast period, but as usual the kitchen will be open - and Crouton seemed to be in a good mood for a change,” she finishes, referring to Maxwell Creighton, the Sergeant in charge of the company’s food service - he’d been bestowed that nickname years before the two had joined the company, and took it good-naturedly by this point.

“Alright, I’ll be back in a bit… if you haven’t eaten yet, will you wait for me first? We can head over to the mess together,” Samantha suggests, drawing over to the bed to stand in front of Ashley, tilting her head questioningly.

Running fingers through her blue-striped blonde hair, Ash nods. “No I haven’t, and sure I can. I’ll make sure our rucksacks are ready while you’re gone,” she adds as she sits up and stretches, her back arched and arms over her head, eyes closing.

Samantha waits until Ashley is in full stretch-mode, then leans down and presses a brief kiss to her partner’s lips, right hand cupping her cheek. Ashley lets out a startled sound, eyes flying open; for a moment she leans into the contact, then draws back and brings up a hand to press it over her partner’s mouth, pushing her back. 

“Sammy I love you, but please… make sure you brush your teeth,” Ashley states firmly, laughing as the other woman’s retort is muffled by the hand. Grumbling again, Samantha draws back and sticks her tongue out. 

“Yeah, yeah,” Samantha grumbles as she turns away, pulling open the door and stepping out. “I’ll be back in a bit!” Ash waves to her partner, then sighs and flops back onto the bed before rubbing her eyes; she lays there for several minutes, taking the time to appreciate the quiet but eventually pushes back into a seated position and stretches again.

“Alright, checklist: Get our kit squared away; double check the supplies on our Gigi units; make sure the maps, codes and intel are up to date,” Ashley starts after activating the voice recorder function of her watch. “Sam wanted to switch to an energy-based weapon for this mission, since we’re going to be out for several days so I need to make sure that the armory took care of that… they said it would be ready by 11am at the latest,” she muses out loud, glancing at the watch to make sure that it was recording what she was saying. “Without the railgun’s ammunition drum, she’ll be able to carry the mini-missile pack. Honestly, I don’t know what she sees in the railgun…” 

Trailing off, Ash stands and begins to pack up the various personal items they’ll need, moving from room to room while double-checking everything - not just their kit, but to make sure that their quarters will be secure while away from the camp.

Three hours later, the two step into the maintenance bay, Samantha breathing a sigh of relief as they get out of the hot sun. After having their ID cards checked and approved, they move deeper into the bay, pulling off caps as they wind between several vehicles, taking the time to greet several other members of the company. Eventually the pair reach the power armor garage; their ID is checked a second time before they are allowed access.

Samantha moves off to check on her own unit, in particular the ordinance replacements that had been put in. Ashley watches for a moment, a hint of pride in her smile, then turns and heads over to her own Gigi. Standing in front of the power armor, she gazes up at the lithe, predatory humanoid form and can’t help but grin. _‘Even the patch-job on the left side where those missiles hit last week looks ok. Not laser resistant, but at least they matched the paint-job…’_ she observes silently. Off to her right a tall, lanky male approaches while wiping his hands on the thighs of his coveralls.

“Afternoon Ash,” he greets, stopping beside her and looking up at the power armor as well. “We were able to replace most of the laser-resistant plating by shifting pieces around - since you and Sam insist on the cosmetic alteration, we stripped the plating from where the paint is on your’s and her’s and used them to fix the damage. The paint reduces the effectiveness of the laser-resistance anyways so it’s not really much of a loss,” he explains, pointing at several different spots on the Glitter Girl. 

A nod from the woman, glancing over to him with an apologetic look. “At least it’s not a _lot_ of ornamentation…” she replies sheepishly, then rolling her shoulders. “We like the look, and don’t mind the slight loss of protection. These things are pretty damned tough as it is, and there aren’t a lot of lasers being used out there these days,” she adds, then smiles. “Our thanks though, for the work Eddie.”

A grunt from the tech, absently wiping his hands against his thighs again before crossing his arms over his chest. “Honestly, it’s kind of nice to work on these, compared to a lot of our other equipment… those engineers out of Quebec know their stuff. Some of our younger techs call it over-engineered, but I doubt they’ll think that after ten years of working on Bandito or Coalition equipment.”

“You’ll have to elaborate further later, Eddie. Sam and I need to head to our final briefing. Sigh. Then a minimum of three days out in the field...” she replies, shrugging again then starting when the tech pats her on the shoulder. 

“Just watch each other’s backs and it will be fine I’m sure,” Eddie replies, offering what he hopes is a reassuring smile, which Ashley returns.

“We’ve been doing _that_ for a very, very long time and we’re still going strong,” the young woman chuckles, shrugging again then drawing away. “Thanks again,” she adds, before turning and jogging off to meet up with Samantha once more. The two head back out into the heat, tugging on their soft, billed caps to help keep the sun off. 

“You all good, Ash?” Samantha asks, glancing at her partner and raising a brow. Though still feeling the lack of sleep, having showered and eaten the blonde seems much more energetic than earlier. 

A hum from Ashley, who flashes a smile back. “Yeah. While I’m not happy with yet another extended mission, at least we’re doing this together,” she replies, briefly catching the other’s hand and giving it a squeeze before releasing it - while their relationship isn’t a secret, they try to avoid public displays where possible. The company’s leadership encourages a looser, less formal atmosphere unlike some units, which has been great for morale, but the pair would still rather not be under a spotlight.

Samantha squeezes back, feeling reassured by her partner’s response. “Good. I tried to get an assignment closer to base but they really need us out there I guess. As I understand things, we’ll be linking up with another recon team tomorrow sometime, after we pass into the badlands. Not sure who yet, I assume the Captain will explain during the final briefing.”

Ash nods to that, glancing at her watch then cursing. “Alright, lets hustle hon. We don’t want to be late.”

**< fin>**

**Author's Note:**

> So yeah, it's a short piece. Barely 5200 words. I'd be interested in input regardless, though - it may well help me flesh out the original world later, for one.
> 
> If you liked this story, please check out my other work! Currently (2020-11-24) I primarily write fanfic for Yagate Kimi ni Naru, as well as some more original stuff for Shadowrun.


End file.
